PPP initiates plan to summon Habibie<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) faction
\ninitiated on Friday a motion to have President B.J. Habibie
\nexplain to the House of Representatives the controversial tapped
\nconversation he had with Attorney General A.M. Ghalib.<\/p>\n
The faction prepared a summons, to be dated March 1, according
\nto PPP legislator Lukman Hakim Saifudin. According to the House
\ninternal rules, at least 10 legislators must submit a written
\nrequest before the House leaders may summon the President.<\/p>\n
The PPP legislators had been very critical of Habibie's tapped
\nconversation, which they believed proved Habibie was not serious
\nin pursuing the case against former president Soeharto. One of
\nthe PPP leaders even suggested that Habibie and Ghalib were
\nmaking a farce of the investigation.<\/p>\n
Over the past few days, legislators of the dominant Golkar and
\nthe Armed Forces (ABRI) factions have agreed to question the
\nPresident.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, constitutional law expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra said
\nonly Habibie's formal clarification on the matter before the
\nHouse would end the controversy.<\/p>\n
\"That is the departure point. The individual concerned
\n(should) state whether the substance of the (tapped) conversation
\nwas true or false,\" Yusril told Antara on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Yusril, also chairman of poll contender the Crescent Star
\nParty, said questioning the President could pave the way for an
\nimpeachment by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).<\/p>\n
\"There are procedures to follow (before an impeachment)...
\nbut it could happen,\" Yusril said.<\/p>\n
Police, rather than investigating the alleged phone bugging,
\nhad continued their probe into the alleged dissemination of false
\ninformation by the print and broadcasting media.<\/p>\n
On Friday, police questioned three news directors from a
\nprivate television station, a radio station and a local
\nnewspapers over the recording.<\/p>\n
The three, who were summoned as witnesses to the National
\nPolice headquarters in Kebayoran Baru in South Jakarta, were Riza
\nPrimadi of SCTV, Bambang G. Parindra of Pro2 FM and Jasofi
\nBahtiar of Merdeka daily.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, National Police detectives also attempted to
\nobtain information from news directors of private television
\nstations ANteve and RCTI and the radio broadcasting station
\nSonora.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Committee for Press Freedom said in a
\nstatement: \"The Committee urges the law and security apparatus to
\nfocus their probe on discovering those involved in the tapping of
\nthe President's phone call, rather than diverting attention by
\nsummoning journalists to hear their stories. The summons are
\nthreatening the freedom of the press.\"<\/p>\n
The statement was signed by senior journalists and media
\nexecutives.<\/p>\n
Separately, PPP legislator Daniel Tanjung, said his faction
\nwas insistent they would pursue Habibie since many of his
\nstatements have been controversial and were confusing the public.<\/p>\n
Daniel cited Habibie's recent account of the May 22 evening
\nincident, in which the President claimed to have been surrounded
\nby troopers under the command of former chief of the Army
\nStrategic Reserve Command Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto, a
\nversion of events that both Prabowo and Wiranto disputed.<\/p>\n
Habibie has confirmed that the voice in the tapped
\nconversation is his, but Ghalib's denial continues to provoke
\ncontroversy.<\/p>\n
During the past 32 years, the House had used its right to
\nquestion the President at least five times.<\/p>\n
On July 5, 1980, for instance, a summons signed by 19
\nlegislators -- 17 of whom were PPP legislators -- was sent to
\nthen president Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Then vice president Adam Malik met the House on Soeharto's
\nbehalf.<\/p>\n
The questioning was the result of a controversial statement
\nmade by then president Soeharto in March 1980 at Pekanbaru, Riau.
\nThe substance of his statement was that rather than allowing the
\n1945 Constitution to be changed, he would kidnap a number of MPR
\nmembers who sought to change the document. (emf\/aan)<\/p>",
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